In 2025, the international situation has become a pot, the United States is on fire all over Asia-Pacific and Europe, and China is developing at a tight pace, and does not dare to easily lose Russia, the old neighbor.
It's not how perfect Russia is, but that it has a solid strategic weight in Sino-Russian relations.If this card is played out, the pressure on the north, south, and sea of China will be borne by itself, and the energy, economy, and security of the whole line will be urgent.
China and Russia share more than 4,300 km of border line, which is not a small thing. Russia is being blocked by the West, with economic sanctions, technological blockade, financial strikes turning up, and Russia headed, It is equivalent to pulling up a barrier to the northern border of China.
In May 2025, China and Russia signed a joint statement, emphasizing global strategic stability and clarifying that China and Russia must jointly safeguard regional security. Russia's military presence directly helps China share potential risks in the Arctic and Central Asia.
Without Russia, China would have to spend extra money on border defense, pull all resources to the north, and the energy of the south in the South China Sea would be dispersed.
In the new version of Russia's Arctic policy, it also places northern border security as the core and consolidates sovereign integrity. This fits well with the "overall national security concept" in China's national security white paper, covering political, military, territorial and other aspects.
Simply put, Russia is stable, and China's northern line is stable; if it is shaken, China will have to be enemy on three sides, and development space will be directly crushed.
China is the world's largest energy importer, the demand for petroleum and natural gas is huge, and although new energy is well developed, the share of imports is still high.
Russia is the most reliable onshore channel, with the Power of Siberia pipeline steadily rising since its inception in 2019, and China's imports of natural gas from Russia have exceeded expectations by the first half of 2025.
On September 2, during Putin's visit to China, China-Russia signed a memorandum of obligation on the "Siberian Power 2" natural gas pipeline, which will start from the Arctic field of the Yamal Peninsula, through Mongolia to China, with an annual gas supply of 50 billion cubic meters, the total supply will reach 106 billion cubic meters, gas by 2030.
Because land pipelines are not affected by maritime blockade, and unlike the Middle East or South China Sea routes, they can be blocked at any time.
The strategic cooperation between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation, which locks in supply within 30 years, is not only a sale, but also based on mutual trust.
Russia needs exports, China needs stable low-cost energy, and if this pipeline is yellow, China's energy imports account for more than 20% of Russia's share will be filled, prices will rise, time will be delayed, manufacturing and people's livelihoods will be affected.
In the first half of 2025, although Sino-Russian energy trade declined overall, the natural gas sector bucked the trend and rose because this line was pulling.
Economically, China and Russia are highly complementary, but the trade volume will fluctuate slightly in 2025, which must be faced squarely. According to Chinese customs data, the bilateral trade volume from January to June was US $106.488 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 9.1%; From January to July, it rose to US $125.804 billion, and the decline narrowed to 8.1%.
China's exports to Russia were 47.16 billion (down 8.4%), and imports were 59.328 billion (down 9.6%). There were positive signs in July.
Why drop? Due to the global economic downturn and the impact of sanctions, Russia's strategy of turning to the East has made China its largest trading partner, accounting for 26% of Russia's foreign trade.
China exports machinery and consumer goods, Russia returns to raw materials and energy, the share of the settlement of the currency increased to more than 90%, avoiding the risk of the dollar.
Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade said that Sino-Russian trade has slowed down, but suggested shifting from exports to investment, which shows that both sides are looking for new growth points. The investment agreement signed by the two countries in May 2025 covers energy, space and other fields, and the trade volume target will exceed 240 billion yuan by the end of the year.
Without Russia, China would have fewer safe global trade channels, the Western financial system would be closed at any time, and the economic rhythm would be chaotic.
This piece of military cooperation, which is frequently operating in 2025, China-Russia is not in the show muscle, but in practical security.
On August 1st, the "Maritime Joint-2025" exercise opened in Vladivostok. The theme was to maintain the security of strategic channels, deal with threats in the western Pacific, and practice anti-terrorism, maritime supply, joint search and rescue and other subjects. It ended on August 5th.
This time, it's the turn of the Russian Navy to host it, and the fleet of ships cruises in the Sea of Japan to test the coordination mechanism.
China has benefited from it and enhanced its experience in the distant seas. On September 8-9, China, Russia and Mongolia carried out the "Border Defense Cooperation-2025" joint exercise to combat terrorist and sabotage activities in border areas. For the first time, the three parties involved border troops to participate to strengthen stability in the north.
In July, Chinese military representatives participated in the Russian-Belarus "West 2025" exercises to learn heavy equipment air deployment technology, and the agreement clearly replicated capabilities.
Russia provides arms and technology to help China improve its preparations for paratroopers infiltration, but this is not unilateral. The two sides benefit each other in counter-terrorism and intelligence sharing.
In 2025, China-Russia joint cruises reached 14 times and expanded within the framework of the SCO. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov spoke after the BRICS summit, stressing that China-Russia military cooperation is not aimed at third parties, but the West is looking in the eyes, concerned about the Asia-Pacific pattern changes.
This cooperation leaves China's military resources under pressure in the South China Sea, the Northern line has a backhand, and there is a large strategic turnaround space.
On the international platform, China and Russia cooperated tacitly, and the mechanisms of the SCO and BRICS are amplifiers.On September 2, 2025, China and Russia met, reaffirming coordination in the UN, SCO, BRICS and G20, supporting multipolarization and opposing unilateral sanctions.
In an interview with Xinhua Agency on August 30, Putin said that China and Russia are important factors in global politics on these platforms. On September 1-3, Putin attended the Tianjin Shanghai Cooperation Summit and promoted the establishment of an AI cooperation and development bank, with new members Egypt and Iran joining.
On September 8, the BRICS Online Summit emphasized unity and cooperation. Lula of Brazil chaired the summit and President Putin and South Africa participated to discuss the "two-state solution" to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the political settlement of Ukraine.
Russia's G20 affairs coordinator said that the BRICS maintained a United front in the G20 despite differences.
In September, Lavrov made a speech at the United Nations, calling for the reform of the Security Council, condemning the double standards of the West, and highlighting the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS. China has gained diplomatic space from it and promoted Community of Shared Future for Mankind.
Russia has turned to the east, China and Russia have made efforts to coordinate land and sea in Europe and Asia and integrate security and development, and Arctic cooperation has also accelerated. In April 2025, Zakharova's press conference emphasized the purpose of the SCO to ensure the stability of neighboring countries.
Without Russia, the influence of these platforms would be discounted, China's voice would be weak, and swing countries would easily turn to the West.
Taken together, China-Russia relations are not indispensable brothers, but the ballast stone of China's current strategy.
In the joint statement in May 2025, Putin said that Russia-China relations enhance world stability. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out that China and Russia have historical logic, endogenous motivation, and civilized heritage, and do not target or be subject to third parties.
The international community has high ratings, and multi-national figures say this is a strong impetus. All sectors of Russia look forward to deepening mutual trust and expanding cooperation.But the reality is that the Russian economy is dragged by sanctions, and the trade decline is challenging, but China and Russia are stronger and the comprehensive strategic cooperation is more stable.
References:
1. Russia leaving China is nothing? Zelensky offended China with one sentence. He suddenly mentioned something. He was very dissatisfied with China? A quick look at the frontier 2025-09-29
2. Russia and China-Future-oriented Partnership People's Daily March 20, 2023